THE House committee on legislative franchise has received a letter-complaint from banking giant BDO-Unibank reporting what a committee member said was illustrative of Meralco’s oversized power over businesses in need of electric supply.
The letter, from the Manjores and Manjores law firm representing BDO, was submitted to the House legislative franchise committee and now forms part of documentary evidence being studied by the panel discussing Meralco’s bid for the renewal of its franchise.
According to the letter, BDO had applied for electric connection for a development project on the site of its headquarters in Makati City. One of the buildings is a high-rise tower while the other is an annex building with a total area of 11,492 square meters.
It said construction was to have started in 2022 and finished in 2028.
The letter said Meralco demanded a 684-square meter land as a condition to connect the BDO development to electric supply.
“There is apparent discrimination because Meralco has imposed a burdensome condition on BDO concerning the latter’s application for electricity service,” said the letter addressed to lawyer William S. Pamintuan, head of Meralco’s legal services, and submitted to the franchise committee.
The land being demanded by Meralco was supposedly to become the site of a substation for the electric supply needed by BDO.
Negotiations between the two companies reached the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), which eventually ruled in 2022 in favor of BDO and asked Meralco to act on BDO’s application for an electric connection.
But during a hearing of the House committee on legislative franchise, Rep. Johnny Pimentel lamented the ERC directive on the BDO-Meralco case has not been implemented until now.
“There was a decision for Meralco to act on this but after two years, until now, there has been no action from Meralco,” said Pimentel.
Meralco officials confirmed BDO’s application for power connection for an expansion project in Makati City which would require “several hundreds of megawatts.”
The Meralco representatives said the required amount of electric supply would need a site for a new substation but “the problem is there is no such available space” in the Makati CBD.
They said negotiations with BDO revolved around the Meralco demand for land to house the new substation since Meralco will shoulder costs for equipment and take care of everything “except the land.”
The representatives said it was SOP for Meralco to demand land to build new substations on in cases of “new developments.”
Pimentel read the 2022 ERC resolution on the case which described the demand for land as “an excessive and unreasonable requirement for an electricity consumer to comply with.”
“So it states here furthermore that Meralco being the franchise holder has the sole obligation to and responsibility for providing the power requirements of BDO,” Pimentel said, reading the ERC resolution.
Pimentel said the 684 square meter land being demanded by Meralco in Makati CBD would cost hundreds of millions of pesos.
The letter complaint was signed by the bank’s legal counsel, which means it was seeking help from the committee to resolve its row with Meralco.
“In short, they had come to this committee to seek help and this could affect your franchise application,” Pimentel said, addressing Meralco officials.
